Driver Manager (3438)
- Salary:Competitive Salary
- Location:Cambridge
- Contract Type:Permanent
- Closing Date:1 April 2026
🚆 Driver Manager
Location: Cambridge
Are you a people-focused leader who thrives in a safety-critical, high-performance environment? Do you have the confidence to lead from the front, influence culture, and bring out the very best in others?
Join Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) as a Driver Manager and play a vital role in shaping the future of our operational workforce.
🌟 The Opportunity
As a Driver Manager, you'll lead and manage a designated group of drivers, ensuring the highest standards of safety, performance, and customer service are consistently delivered. You'll be a visible, trusted, and respected leader—someone who motivates, supports, and challenges their team to perform at their best.
This is a hands-on leadership role where people management, safety leadership, and operational excellence come together to deliver outstanding service to our customers.
🎯 What Success Looks Like
You'll be instrumental in:
- Creating a first-class customer service culture that raises professionalism and enhances the on-board experience.
- Driving employee engagement and performance, ensuring fair, consistent application of attendance, performance, disciplinary, and grievance procedures.
- Leading a high-performing, customer-focused driver team that delivers safe, reliable, and revenue-maximising services.
- Using data, insight, and risk-based decision making to continuously improve safety, performance, and customer outcomes.
🔑 Key Responsibilities
- Maintain effective control of driver safety performance, using chain of care and performance management processes.
- Conduct regular briefings and performance reviews, ensuring standards and targets are met.
- Review accident and incident trends with drivers, taking action where required.
- Implement recommendations arising from investigations and inquiries within your remit.
- Work collaboratively with Network Rail and enforcing authorities during formal investigations.
- Support Competence Development Managers to maintain and develop driver competence, including route and traction knowledge.
- Provide on-call cover as part of a rota, acting as first line response when required.
👤 About You
You'll be:
- A confident, credible people manager with experience in a safety-critical or operational environment.
- Passionate about coaching, engagement, and performance improvement.
- Calm under pressure, fair in your approach, and confident handling complex people matters.
- Committed to delivering excellent customer service through strong leadership and high standards.
🚀 Why Join Us?
At GTR, you'll be part of an organisation that moves millions of people every year—and values the people who make that happen. We offer the chance to make a real impact, develop your leadership career, and help shape a culture of safety, professionalism, and pride.
Ready to lead from the front and drive real change?
Apply today and help keep Britain moving.
Closing date - 1st April 2026
Benefits
Pension
Staff Travel
Childcare Vouchers
Extra Holidays
Discount Scheme
Long Service Awards
Employee Assistance Programme
The Transport Benevolent Fund
In-House Occupational Health Department
Cycle to Work Scheme
Testimonials
What our staff say
“I work as part of the Fleet Infrastructure team, which means ensuring our 18 Engineering locations operate safely and efficiently. We oversee all building and track maintenance works as well as various minor and major projects across the network.”
Hannah Richards
Fleet Infrastructure Administrator
“I started in a small ticket office back in 1996 and have continued to work my way up ever since. A previous manager told me about a job he’d seen advertised for a trainer. ’d never considered a job in HR or mentoring before then, but he said I’d be perfect for it and I haven’t looked back since!”
Zoey Hudson
Head of Talent, Diversity and Inclusion
“Since April, I’ve helped to support our Kickstart Scheme. It’s been a really rewarding process to be part of because I know first-hand how tough it can be to find work once you’re out of it.”
Jack Gow
Mobile Station Manager
“I love the freedom that comes with being a train driver. Obviously, there are rules and regulations to follow as well as duties and commitments to carry out, but in a way, you’re sort of your own boss, which is nice.”
Ashley John
Train Driver
“I’m a Thameslink passenger host and team leader based at Luton station and I’m currently doing a Level 3 Supervisor apprenticeship so that I can improve my skills even further. I was hesitant to do the apprenticeship at first because of my age – I left school over 60 years ago without any qualifications! It’s been hard to get back into the routine of learning again.”
Bob Bryce
Passenger Host Team Leader
“It was my brother’s suggestion to join the railway. He was already working in the industry and knew I had some university bills to pay off so told me to give it a go, get out of debt and see what I wanted to do next. After a while, it just felt like actually – this is exactly where I’m meant to be. I’m part of a great team and the on-board department as a whole are brilliant to work with. I feel at home here.”
Tonderai Matizha-Johnson
Area Operations Manager
“When I saw that GTR was advertising places for its apprenticeship scheme I looked into it straight away because I thought it was a great opportunity to learn whilst getting real life experience in a 9-5 job. I applied for a level three business administration apprenticeship and was thrilled to find out I had a place on the course! I was so excited that I didn’t even mind it was based 250 miles away from where I lived.”
Harriet Dee
Team Administrator
“Working for GTR is very rewarding and fulfilling. You really feel like you're making a difference to customers, no matter what role you're in as at the end of the day they're the heart of our business. I’ve had lots of opportunities to explore other aspects of the business including supporting our station staff and gaining my Train Dispatch Licence which has been enriching for my experience here.”
Maggie Luckhurst
Platform / Train Dispatch
“If you’ve always had an interest in rail, or maybe you’re just curious to find out what working in the railway might look like, GTR is the operator to go for. Not many companies do an official work experience program and this unique opportunity will give you a good grounding with varied activities to help you find the best place in the railway for you. It certainly did it for me.”
Nathaniel Owen
Station Manager